Yakima County woman charged with supplying game to Tacoma wildlife trafficker

A Yakima County woman has been charged in Pierce County Superior Court with supplying poached game animals to one of the state’s most prolific wildlife traffickers.

Evelena Bobb, 49, of White Swan, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to one count of unlawfully trafficking in fish or wildlife in the first degree.

Court Commissioner Meagan Foley released Bobb on her own recognizance, pending trial. Foley ordered her not to possess wildlife until her case is resolved.

Investigators with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife believe Bobb supplied illegally obtained deer and elk carcasses to a Tacoma man who later resold the meat on the black market.

That man, Bona Bunphoath, pleaded guilty last year of four counts of first-degree unlawful trafficking in fish and wildlife and was sentenced to 30 days of community service and 60 days home detention.

In their investigative reports, wildlife agents called Bunphoath “one of the largest illegal wildlife traffickers in Washington state history.”

Agents identified Bobb as one of his suppliers during a 19-month undercover investigation, court records show.

Surveillance footage from a transaction in January 2012 shows a woman later identified as Bobb driving a pickup to Bunphoath’s home, records show. The truck was registered to Bobb, wildlife agents said.

“Co-defendant Bunphoath and several of his associates met the truck’s occupants and assisted them in unloading several elk and deer carcasses from the truck bed into Bunphoath’s garage,” court records show.

“The same vehicle was seen during several transfers of elk and deer to co-defendant Bunphoath occurring over a period of nearly a year in 2011.”

Bunphoath later told agents that “Bobb is the woman who had been supplying him with multiple deer and elk carcasses, as well as other animals,” the records show.